ASTE - NASDAQ

Hello, and welcome to the Astec Industries Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. It is my pleasure to introduce your host, Steve Anderson, Senior Vice President of Administration and Investor Relations. Mr. Anderson, you may begin.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Joining me on today's call are Jaco van der Merwe, Chief Executive Officer; and Brian Harris, Chief Financial Officer. In just a moment, I'll turn the call over to Jaco to provide his comments, and then Brian will summarize our financial results. For your convenience, a copy of our press release and presentation have been posted on our website under the Astec Investor Relations tab at www.astecindustries.com. Turning to Slide 2, I'll remind you that our discussion this morning may contain forward-looking statements that relate to the future performance of the company, and these statements are intended to qualify for the safe harbor liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Factors that could influence our results are highlighted in today's financial news release and others are contained in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As usual, we ask that you familiarize yourself with those factors. In an effort to provide investors with additional information regarding the company's results, the company refers to various U.S. GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures, which management believes provide useful information to investors. These non-GAAP measures have no standardized meaning prescribed by U.S. GAAP and are, therefore, unlikely to be comparable to the calculation of similar measures for other companies. Management does not intend these items to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the related GAAP measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results are included in our news release and the appendix of our slide presentation. And now, I will turn the call over to Jaco.

Thank you, Steve. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'm excited to report the Astec team delivered another strong quarter and completed the previously announced TerraSource acquisition to drive future growth. Our team continues to progress as we execute our strategic initiatives to deliver consistency, profitability and growth. Thanks to the 4,500-plus team members around the world for their dedication and engagement. On Slide 4, we provide a second quarter overview. Our results for the quarter were solid for net sales, and we generated increased profitability, as evidenced by our adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share. Adjusted EBITDA of $33.7 million increased $6.1 million or 22.1% over the second quarter of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.2% increased 220 basis points and adjusted earnings per share were strong at $0.88, a 44.3% increase over the second quarter of 2024. Backlog stood at $380.8 million and declined sequentially by 5.4%. This was primarily due to a combination of shorter lead times that allowed customers to place orders closer to the desired delivery dates, and challenging market conditions for forestry and mobile paving products in the Infrastructure Solutions segment. We continue to see healthy demand for asphalt and concrete plants in the Infrastructure Solutions segment. Net sales in Materials Solutions remained relatively stable at $125.7 million, despite being challenged by the impact of high interest rates. We were especially pleased to see sequential and year-over-year increases in applied orders. Initial signs of dealer inventory replenishment were seen and rental utilization remained strong. We expect continued progress in our Materials Solutions segment in the second half of the year. Another quarter of positive free cash flow was driven by increased profitability and continued focus on working capital management. On Slide 5, we provide second quarter highlights and our full year outlook. As discussed, we generated strong adjusted earnings per share on solid net sales. We were pleased to achieve double-digit adjusted EBITDA margin and return on invested capital of 10.2% and 11.6%, respectively. Return on invested capital has improved 61.1% since the second quarter of 2024. Based on progress made in the first half, we are raising the lower end of our full year guidance from $105 million to $110 million on our core business, while keeping the top end unchanged at $125 million. Our updated full year guidance also reflects the expected second half contributions by TerraSource. We expect TerraSource to provide adjusted EBITDA in the $13 million to $17 million range, bringing our consolidated guidance expectations for adjusted EBITDA to a range of $123 million to $142 million for the full year. This range is based on the current state of the operating environment that I will cover on Slide 8. Continuing the TerraSource discussion on Slide 6. We were pleased to announce the completion of the TerraSource acquisition on July 1st. TerraSource is a market-leading manufacturer of material processing equipment and related aftermarket parts, serving complementary crushing, screening and separation markets. This presents a unique opportunity for Astec as it will be accretive from day 1 with aftermarket part sales representing approximately 63% of total revenue and 80% of gross margin. On Slide 7, we highlight the TerraSource integration and synergy focus for the second half of this year. We feel very good about the way this process has started. Thank you to both teams for all the hard work over the last 90 days. Collaboration among our combined team members has been strong. I'm also glad to report that our Oracle Human Resource system allowed us to integrate the payroll and onboarding process seamlessly from day 1, [ identified ] various procurement and other synergies and are off to a good start towards realizing the savings. Further, increasing parts and service revenue is a major opportunity, and we are focused on optimizing parts fill rates and increasing our feet on the street for further growth. Other opportunities include sales channel alignment and capitalizing on cross-selling, new product development, and factory utilization. Slide 8 reflects the current operating environment. Currently, there are a number of external tailwinds and headwinds in the market in which we operate. Among opportunities is the status of federal highway funding in the United States. Multiyear core levels of work on federal roads and bridge projects provide stability for many Astec customers. As a result, customer sentiment is generally positive as many have reported having large backlogs of work. As evidenced by our recent acquisition of TerraSource, we have current and future opportunities to grow inorganically. The search and data center infrastructure is another opportunity for Astec customers. These huge construction projects require large amounts of concrete for foundations, walls, sidewalks and curbs and asphalt pavement. All of these contain construction materials that have been processed through the type of equipment Astec make. On July 4, 2025, the one big beautiful bill was enacted into law in the United States. This bill extends many expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act and restores favorable tax treatment for certain business provisions, including accelerated depreciation and R&D tax credits. Challenges currently being faced include the ever-changing tariff environment and high interest rates, which present headwinds to equipment dealers, end users, and contribute to a soft market for forestry and mobile paving equipment. We rarely mentioned weather as a challenge. However, this year could be an exception. May was the wettest month on record in many states. In our hometown of Chattanooga, for example, the rainfall in May broke a record previously set in 1929. Excessive amounts of rain caused widespread delays in processing aggregates and in construction projects. Moving to Slide 9. As we have shared previously, approximately 80% of Astec's revenues are generated in the United States, which is a favorable market. America's infrastructure is foundational to our national economy, global competitiveness and our quality of life. Domestically, state and local government contract awards are a leading indicator of future construction activity expected to break ground within 30 to 60 days. Depending on the size and scope of the project, actual construction work often takes place over a multiyear period. According to the American Road and Transportation Association, ARPA, Economics Team and Dodge Data Analytics, the total value of state and local government transportation contract awards increased 9%, growing to $47.8 billion through April 2025 compared to $43.8 billion through April of 2024. Approximately $202 billion or 58% of the Infrastructure Investment and Job Act funds have been committed as of April 2025 and $124 billion or 36% has been funded. According to ARPA, the obligation rates are on track and a lot more money will be spent even after 2026. The current surface transportation law expires October 1, 2026. During the Transportation Construction Coalition Fly-In on May 6 through May 8, ARPA reported Washington transportation policymakers were optimistic about the prospects for enactment of a new surface transportation bill next year and have pledged to bring the new bill for President Trump's signature well before the current one expires. On July 17th, U.S. Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, spoke at an 'America Is Building Again' infrastructure event. Secretary Duffy announced that the priority for the House of Representatives is the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and noted the house theme for the Surface Transportation Reauthorization is 'America Builds'. Their goals are to get money to the states efficiently and cut the amount of red tape through permitting reform. These messages bode well for Astec as we are a niche industry player focused on the rock to road sector. Needed improvements to our infrastructure provide long-term stable demand for our equipment, aftermarket parts and digital solutions. We have strong brand recognition in the infrastructure sector, which is largely comprised of aggregates and the road and bridge construction. Turning to Slide 10. Thus far, we have successfully navigated the ever-changing tariff environment. To date, mitigation efforts have offset tariff impacts to cost of goods, which have been in the 2% to 3% range. This is reflected in our second quarter results, and we expect our actions will continue to be effective for the remainder of the year. Astec has ongoing proactive strategies to mitigate the impact of tariffs. Our One Astec procurement team is requiring suppliers to provide support for any price increases, and we are actively negotiating all purchases. We have initiated additional pricing action, and we'll continue to assess the situation to protect margins. We continue to practice dual sourcing and resourcing. We are managing supply chain alignment and will [ reshore ] to the United States when feasible. We are continually managing our manufacturing footprint. Our updated full year adjusted EBITDA guidance includes our current view of the tariff environment. On Slide 11, we show our backlog information. Our shorter production lead times and part fill rates have allowed customers to place orders closer to the desired delivery dates. We have also experienced variability in the ordering patterns from customers due to macroeconomic factors mentioned on Slide 8. Current backlog levels in the Infrastructure Solutions segment are a combination of healthy invoicing for asphalt and concrete plants, dealers ordering equipment closer to desired shipment dates, and softness in our orders for mobile paving products and the markets for forestry products. In our Materials Solutions segment, backlog has stabilized in the $125 million range for the past 4 quarters, and we expect demand for Materials Solutions products to gain momentum in the second half of the year. Our implied orders and book-to-bill trends are shown on Slide 12. Implied orders on a consolidated basis have stayed above $300 million for 4 of the last 5 quarters. In Q2, a decline in forestry and mobile paving orders in the Infrastructure Solutions segment was significantly offset by an increase in implied orders in the Materials Solutions segment. The Materials Solutions segment has increased implied orders for 4 consecutive quarters and posted increases on both a sequential and quarter-over-quarter basis. The consolidated book-to-bill ratio declined slightly from 95% to 93% as an increase in Infrastructure Solutions was offset by a drop from a strong 113% to 99% in Materials Solutions. Though some degree of uncertainty remains in the broader economic environment, we are focused on maintaining discipline and taking the necessary actions to achieve our goals. With that, I will now turn the call over to Brian to provide additional comments on our second quarter financial results.

Thank you, Jaco, and good morning. Our consolidated financial results are highlighted on Slide 14. Net sales decreased 4.4% as healthy demand for asphalt and concrete plants was offset by declines in the demand for forestry and mobile paving equipment in the Infrastructure Solutions segment. Materials Solutions sales increased slightly to $125.7 million, and our consolidated aftermarket parts sales grew 2.9%. We were pleased to generate an adjusted EBITDA of $33.7 million in the second quarter, which compared to $27.6 million in the second quarter of last year. Adjusted EBITDA margin reached 10.2%, a 220 basis point increase over the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margins benefited from pricing and mix, as evidenced by a 330 basis point increase in gross margin. Adjusted earnings per share of $0.88 in the second quarter compared favorably to $0.61 of earnings per share posted in Q2 2024 for an increase of 44.3%. Moving on to the Infrastructure Solutions segment shown on Slide 15. As just discussed, equipment sales in the quarter were lower as healthy demand for asphalt and concrete plants was offset by weak demand for forestry and mobile paving equipment. Aftermarket parts increased $4.8 million or 9.4% compared to the second quarter of 2024. Segment operating adjusted EBITDA dollars and adjusted EBITDA margins were positively affected by pricing, operational excellence initiatives and expense management. Adjusted EBITDA of $32.2 million was an 18.4% increase over $27.2 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 15.7% compared to 12.3% in the second quarter of 2024, for an increase of 340 basis points. The Material Solutions segment is shown on Slide 16. Equipment sales for the quarter increased $4.1 million or 4.9%, while aftermarket parts sales declined slightly by $2.2 million or 5.9%. Similar to the Infrastructure Solutions segment, Materials Solutions margins were positively affected by pricing, operational excellence initiatives and expense management. This was evidenced by a 39.2% increase in adjusted EBITDA to $14.2 million from $10.2 million in the prior year and a 310 basis point increase in adjusted EBITDA margin to 11.3% from 8.2% for the same quarter in 2024. Moving on to the second quarter adjusted EBITDA bridge on Slide 17. We were pleased to report adjusted EBITDA of $33.7 million, an increase of $6.1 million or 22.1% over the second quarter of 2024. Favorable pricing, lower steel and freight costs and the proactive efforts by our OneASTEC procurement team helped manage inflation, the impact of tariffs and modest manufacturing and other period costs. On Slide 18, you can see we maintain a strong balance sheet with ample liquidity. We ended the quarter with a cash and cash equivalents of $87.8 million, available credit of $159.8 million for total available liquidity of $247.6 million. Our free cash flow in the quarter of $9 million was 53.9% of net income. These results were driven by profitable sales and sound working capital management. In connection with the closing of the TerraSource acquisition, we entered into a new credit agreement, providing for: one, a revolving credit facility, a term loan facility, a swing line facility and a letter of credit facility in an initial aggregate amount of up to $600 million; and two, an incremental facilities limit in an aggregate amount not to exceed $150 million. Our team has done an excellent job of managing liquidity as we have reshaped the balance sheet. We expect net leverage below 2x at the end of 2025 on a pro forma basis and expect net leverage to decline further in 2026, providing availability for further inorganic growth. I will now turn the call back to Jaco.

Thank you, Brian. On Slide 19, we summarize our Astec investment highlights. We are proud that Astec continues to be a trusted source of globally recognized brands and high-quality solutions for our customers. We consistently maintain an ongoing high level of customer interaction. At the recent National Asphalt Pavement Association midyear meeting in July, we were pleased to hear that though customers continue to remain somewhat cautious, they displayed favorable sentiment and are encouraged by the level of activity in construction markets. We are also pleased that our operational excellence efforts continue to gain traction, and we have many of the benefits yet to come. Manufacturing and procurement efforts are driving efficiencies, and we are seeing positive adjusted EBITDA trends. Our business has several exciting growth drivers, including growing our recurring aftermarket parts business. This is an ongoing major initiative for the Astec team, our robust new product pipeline, the stability provided by multiyear federal and state funding for interstates and highways in our major markets, the United States, numerous expansion opportunities in current and future international markets, inorganic growth opportunities that are strategically aligned to meet our financial criteria. And as Brian mentioned, we have a strong balance sheet that provides ample liquidity to fund growth and manage leverage. With that, operator, we are now ready to take questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Steve Ferazani from Sidoti

Appreciate all the detail on the call. I did want to dig a little bit deeper on the year-over-year margin improvement. Just trying to get a better sense of how much that is pricing versus mix? Because, I mean, when I look at the year-over-year incremental margins in both segments, they're pretty impressive.

Yes, absolutely. We are very proud of the work our teams have done on margin expansion here. I will say our OneASTEC procurement team's efforts are one of the main contributors here. As you could see in the EBITDA bridge, the team have been very successful to navigate inflationary pressures, tariff pressures and have helped us to further improve our margins. And then the second contributor here, our operational excellence efforts are flowing through now. We've seen this now for a couple of quarters. And especially on the Materials Solutions side, as our factories are filling up, we expect that margin profile to further improve in the future. So, just a great work done by our procurement teams, our OpEx teams. And, of course, we have been very proactive looking at our market pricing to mitigate any potential tariff effects.

And did you see -- did you provide what was the EPS drag from tariffs in the quarter? Do you have a number?

Yes. I think we've said in the call that we were pretty successful mitigating any effect during the quarter. So, we did not provide a number, Steve, because we feel like that we did a pretty good job eliminating most of the effect of tariffs.

Okay. Perfect. And then can you just talk a little bit about the market differences between what you're seeing in asphalt and concrete plants versus mobile paving equipment, why they're kind of going in different directions right now?

Yes. Yes. So I think our mobile paving equipment is now in the same situation as what the MS business was for quite a while, where we see inventory levels in our dealers being full, interest rates hitting that customer environment. As a reminder, our mobile paving equipment goes through a dealer model where the asphalt plant business is direct. So, we're seeing a little bit of what's happening here now what the MS business have seen for the last 2 years.

Okay. I mean, I guess the concern would be that we're seeing early signs of caution as the current infrastructure spending bill winds down, even though there's been a lag in the release of dollars. And maybe you're seeing it first in mobile paving equipment and then you'll see it later on asphalt and concrete plants. Would you say that's just not true?

Yes. I think when we look at backlog and the different product lines, I think there's a couple of things to consider here. Firstly, I think our team has done a great job delivering a great quarter despite all the challenges that we've listed on Slide 8. Our customers have work, and they are still cautiously optimistic here about funding, about backlog for next year. And I think that's evident in our implied orders being over $300 million here, 4 out of the last 5 quarters. So, I also think that our teams have done a really good job reducing our lead times, Steve. And just during the quarter, for instance, we reduced our parts backlog by 16%. And as you know, that's something that I've been very passionate about driving down. So, we feel that we have Q3 covered in backlog from an equipment point of view. We see very stable parts order flow through. That provides us great visibility for Q3. Q4 still have availability in capacity. Our shorter lead times provide us the opportunity to process orders and still deliver that during this year. So, the asphalt and concrete plant side have definitely seen a different backlog level than what we've had historically. But we see this a little bit more normal. And I always ask my team what the definition of normal is. But if you go back historically, Q3 is typically a quarter where we will start to see asphalt plant orders right into the beginning of Q4 as companies release their budgets for next year. And then with -- especially this year with our short lead times, we feel that we can capitalize on any orders coming in between now and the next 2, 3 weeks that we can still deliver this year.

Got it. Great. And if I get one more in, just about the impressive cash flow through the first half of the year. Typically, you see a working capital build that reverses in the second half and the second half typically is the stronger cash flow half. That being said, you're at over 100% conversion of adjusted net income. Brian, if I could ask, one, how you're doing it? It looks like it's really on the receivables line which you've held. But if you could talk about sort of how you're thinking the seasonality of working capital -- of free cash flow plays out this year?

Yes. Thanks, Steve. Yes, the working capital management has been very good this year, continues to be an area of focus for us. I think, actually, we still have some opportunity within inventory levels. As we get towards the end of the year, we typically start to see some more downward movement there. So, I'm pretty optimistic that we can continue on this trend. Free cash flow has obviously been an area of focus for us. And as I said, I think the team is doing a great job of managing that. So, it's just a constant area of focus.

And maybe, Steve, if I can just add -- yes, maybe just add something there. I think if you look at our receivables and our payables, it's probably in the best shape it's been in a long time in our organization. But we're really attacking cash and cash flow from all aspects. And we want to make sure we have the ability to fund further inorganic growth. And the only way we can do that is if we continuously drive our cash flow.

There are no further questions. I'd like to turn the call back over to Steve Anderson for closing remarks.

All right. Thank you, Jordan. We do appreciate everyone's participation in our conference call this morning, and thank you for your interest in Astec. As today's news release states, this conference call has been recorded. A replay of the conference call will be available through August 20, 2025, and an archived webcast will be available for 90 days. The transcript will be available under the Investor Relations section of the Astec Industries website within the next 5 business days. This concludes our call, but I'm happy to connect with follow-up questions later. So, thank you, all, and have a good day.